To mark the release the 24th Bond movie we present the same number of facts on the amazing stunts, super cars and beautiful women that make up Sam Mendes’ latest

Spectre’s opening sequence, set during Mexico’s Day Of The Dead carnival, is getting rave reviews and understandably so. It features a stunning, single tracking shot several minutes long. 107 make up artists were needed to get around 1,500 extras ready on time, while the props department had its hands full with 10 decorative floats topped with skeletons, the tallest being 36 feet high.

The film makers shot in three different locations around Mexico City – The Gran Hotel, Plaza Tolsa and the Zocalo. The city’s main square plays host to an impressive stunt sequence involving an out-of-control helicopter piloted by the Red Bull aerobatic pilot, Chuck Aaron.

Stunt co-ordinator, Gary Powell, says the stunts are “very story-orientated”. “A lot of films forget the story and just do ‘crash, bang, wallop’. We don’t just blow stuff up because it looks good. With all the action in James Bond, we tell a story while we’re doing it.”

Spectre marks the first time a Bond film has been shot in the snow since Die Another Day in 2002.

The plane that hurtles down the mountain was built on skidoos so it’s actually being driven. Eight different planes were involved in shooting the sequence.

The production team had to battle unseasonal weather in Austria, which forced them to make 400 tonnes of artificial snow. They needed to cover a mountain which would normally have been blanketed in white.

Moneypenny is now desk-bound after accidentally shooting Bond in Skyfall but the actress, Naomie Harris, says she was relieved not to have been given any stunts, because the training’s so tough.

Ben Whishaw who plays Q, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more excited to get a piece of the action. The actor says that he’s looking forward to doing more in the future.

Lea Seydoux, who plays Bond girl Madeleine Swann, has revealed she was so nervous before her audition for the role, she had a beer to calm her nerves.

Monica Bellucci was first asked to appear in a Bond movie 25 years ago. Now, at 51, she’s finally accepeted and is the oldest Bond “girl” to have appeared in the franchise.

Dame Judi Dench’s M might have died at the end of Skyfall but her death didn’t mark her last appearance in a Bond movie. Look out for her cameo at the beginning of Spectre.

Director Sam Mendes decided to return to the helm to direct his second Bond movie just nine months after the release of his first, Skyfall. “It all starts with character with me,” he says. “We had populated MI6 with a whole new generation of people. I wanted to let those relationships develop and grow.”

Sam Smith’s title track Writing’s On The Wall might have received mixed reviews, but it’s the first Bond song to make it to No 1 in the UK